To Die Hereafter
by nematode
Summary: The Spirit AU. Lance is a space detective and he dies in the prologue (spoilers) and the Galra are a space mob and Shiro is Lance's space captain, Pidge and Hunk are space cops, Allura is space commissioner with her space assistant Coran, Keith is a space urchin, quintessence is a space drug, and it's exactly like Will Eisner's comic except not.
1. A Vile Thing

Lance knows he's dying.

The sudden lack of pain gives it away. If he could still see clearly, the continual river of his blood washing down the gutter would clue him in as well. It flows from his wounds in steady pumps, puddling with the rain and sludge on the broken asphalt.

He shouldn't have followed them. He shouldn't have broken into their pod. He shouldn't have grabbed that case or left the hatch open and he definitely shouldn't have done it all while off duty.

 _Cap's gonna be so mad,_ he thinks, until he can't anymore. Black fuzz crowds in at his periphery and the cracked brick lining the alley begins to blur into the rain. He exhales in strangled gasps as more fluid than gas fills his lungs. It's all he can hear now.

The men and the pod and the case are long gone, not that it matters any more. His sight finally fades.

 _Bullshit,_ his mind fires, as if last ditch exasperation alone can combat severe blood loss and organ failure.

His breathing rasps in. Chokes out.

Stops.

His heart follows not long after.

And as Lance finally dies, a broken flask caught under his broken body begins to glow.

* * *

 _ **A/N:**_ Rest in pieces Lance.

(Also hello! First fanfic ever published online, to be torn apart by the masses. Enjoy.)


	2. The Sullen Bell

"Bullshit," Pidge spits out. She's glaring into the alley, as if pigheaded outrage alone can force the brick and mortar to spill their secrets.

"Pidge," Hunk mutters, but his heart isn't into the reproach. He has suitcases under his eyes and red framing his irises.

"This is bullshit," Pidge repeats, louder. Rougher. "It's been a week, Hunk."

"I know-"

"A detective was murdered, right here," Pidge barrels on, "Right here in this _stupid_ alley and no one saw or heard a thing, they didn't leave a thing, all we have is the body and some glass splinters and no leads and _this is bullshit."_

She's staring at the spot, a foot from the drain. Right where they found him, curled in on himself and soaked through more with blood than rain. He was so very pale and so very stiff. He hadn't looked real.

"Pidge," Hunk repeats. His voice is softer, weaker. Pidge finally looks at him for the first time since they arrived at the scene.

Hunk has been one of her best friends since the academy. They've trained together, they've laughed together, they've fought together, and they made detective together. He's been one of her constants for a long time. But it hurts to look at him now. He's never been one to hide his emotions, and the anguish he's felt since they got the call rolls off of him to mix into a toxic cocktail with her own. And she doesn't need that. She doesn't want it. When she looks at Hunk, when she sees his face scrunched up with the effort to not cry, she starts to feel whatever stability she has left, fray.

"Do you think," Hunk continues, then pauses. He closes his eyes and breaths in deep through his nose. Holds it for a long time. When he exhales and looks at her again, he doesn't look broken anymore. He's slumped, limp and empty. He looks so immensely _sad_ and Pidge can feel the pressure building behind her eyes. She swallows and blinks once. Twice.

"I think we should talk to Shiro," Hunk says. He's not a very confrontational person by nature, but he's holding her gaze now. "I don't think either of us should continue working this case."

And just like that, the pressure is drowned out by rage.

"What?" She turns fully towards him and unconsciously her weight shifts lower and her stance widens, knees bent.

"I don't think this is good for either of us, Pidge. I'm not getting any sleep, so I know you aren't. Shiro was right. Lance was our best friend and we... we can't do this."

"Can't do what?" Pidge snaps, "You don't want to find his murderer anymore? You don't want justice?"

"That's not what I'm saying and you know it." Hunk's hands clench at his sides. "There are a slew of others who can work this case just as well as we can. Better, probably."

Pidge scoffs, "You want to trust this to some-"

"What I want is to not feel like this anymore!" Tears start pooling in his eyes and his back is rigid. He's trying so hard not to cry, but he fails. "I want to try and cope, somehow, and that isn't going to happen _here."_ He looks behind her into the alley and the tears flow in thick threads down his cheeks. His chest rises and falls heavily with small, gasping sobs.

Pidge folds in on herself, the fight leaving as abruptly as it came. She's the opposite of Hunk - sour to his sweet, sarcasm to his wholeheartedness, scowl to his wide smile. She's never been especially good at comforting people, but she's been around him long enough that she's catching on. She goes to him now and wraps her arms around his large frame. She can just barely rest her head against the top of his sternum and her arms don't reach to his spine. He responds immediately, scooping her up and burying his face in her bushy hair. It's mildly difficult to breath and she feels her scalp dampening from his tears and she's sure there's at least a little bit of snot getting in her hair, but for the first time since last Thursday morning she feels something close to quiet. The anger is still there, urging her to _act, act, act,_ and the ocean of grief is telling her to _drown, drown, drown,_ but she holds it all back until it's muted and all she can focus on are Hunk's muffled sobs.

They stay like that for a while. Long enough for Hunk's eyes to dry up and for his crying to fade into intermittent sniffles. She pulls him in tighter for a moment, then works her way out of his hold. He blinks, looking at her hair, and the corner of his lip twitches.

"Sorry."

Pidge reaches up a hand and feels the wet, flattened patch at the crown of her head. She pulls her hand back down and looks at the moisture on her fingers.

"It's alright," she says, and a small smile spreads across her face, "It'll wash out. I hope."

Hunk cracks a full smile then and it causes her heart to swell, just a little. But then she loses her grip on her anger and grief and her smile fades.

"...I can't just let it go, Hunk."

He sighs and closes his eyes tight. He's thinking and she lets him. And when he's made his decision and meets her eye to eye, she lets him speak. His voice is soft, but there's weight in it. She's always had a hard time dealing with serious Hunk.

"Then I'll be selfish," he says, "Me and you, we're taking all of our PTO. Pick your place or mine, but one of us is staying with the other and we're going to sleep in late and watch all of his favorite movies and make stupid puns that we know he'd hate and we're going to cry a lot and you're going to do it for me if you won't do it for yourself."

Pidge clamps her jaw tight and looks off to the side. She doesn't answer.

"I'm not above getting Shiro's help if you need more motivation."

Her eyes cut back to him, scathing, but he's not backing down.

There are a lot of things Pidge can fight. There are a lot of things she'll overcome, through strength or cleverness or grit or sheer uncompromising pride. But Hunk, when he's made a decision and is determined to stick with it, is not something she's ever been able to beat. She still stares at him, for an uncomfortably long time, even when she knows she's going to agree with him. He knows it too, and stares right back, waiting patiently until she voices her decision herself.

A gust of March wind travels down the alley, blowing up her back and she nearly shivers. She takes one last look around the scene, her gaze flitting from the small oval drain to the cracks in the asphalt to the uneven brick of the walls. She turns back to Hunk and strides passed him towards their pod, parked on the other side of the quiet street.

"Let's go talk to Shiro."

* * *

 _ **A/N:**_ Look, okay, I did not mean for this to get so damn melodramatic. I swear, I just wanted to write cheesy, pseudo-noir superhero tomfoolery. I don't know what all these stupid emotions are doing here (though I fully blame Hunk).

But hey, just imagine how absolutely bananas _pissed_ Pidge will be when she finds out what's really up (and imagine how tremendously _happy_ Hunk will be). Fun times ahead.

Also I'm assuming at some point the chapters will actually get longer and also a plot will show up. I was planning on throwing Shiro's and maybe Allura's introduction into this chapter and also giving you guys an actual setting other than a vague, cliche alley, but at the moment I'm winging everything with absolutely no outline, so this is what you get for now. I am so sorry.


End file.
